The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has opened an investigation into a petition against a former Managing Director of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, with plans to contact a Swiss school where his children are enrolled.
The petition was filed by the Chairman of Dangote Industries, Aliko Dangote, who accused Ahmed of abusing his office and violating the Code of Conduct for Public Officers.
Sources at the EFCC confirmed on Saturday that the commission has begun preliminary investigations, including writing to institutions named in the petition, both within and outside Nigeria.
Dangote had earlier, in December 2025, submitted a petition to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, alleging that Ahmed spent about $7m on the secondary education of his children in Switzerland using unlawfully acquired funds.
The petition accused the former regulator of misusing public resources amounting to several millions of dollars.
Dangote later withdrew the petition from the ICPC through a letter written by his lawyer on January 5, 2026. Despite this, the ICPC announced that it would continue its probe, citing Sections 3(14) and 27(3) of its enabling Act.
On July 6, the Dangote Group said a fresh petition against Ahmed was submitted to the EFCC through Dangote’s legal representative.
A senior EFCC official familiar with the case said the commission had started by verifying claims made in the petition before inviting the accused.
The source said, “We have prepared the ground and have started working on it. We have not invited the accused.
“We are writing to all the parties mentioned in the petition. Whoever is indicted is always the last to be invited. All the parties mentioned will be written to, to provide information that will be used to confront the person accused.
“When you have not carried out both local and international engagements, you cannot just invite the accused.”
The official explained that the EFCC’s approach followed standard investigation procedures.
“What we are doing is the normal investigative procedure of writing to all the relevant entities and parties, including companies, government bodies and international institutions, involved to obtain their responses. Inviting the accused will come last. We will definitely write to the institutions mentioned in the petition,” the source said.
Another EFCC official added that some claims in the petition required independent confirmation.
The official said, “We will have to confirm some claims in the petition, and this may lead to writing to the Switzerland school mentioned in it.”
The EFCC has, in past investigations, contacted schools as part of probes into alleged misuse of public funds for education expenses.
In a previous case involving a former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, disclosed in 2024 that Bello allegedly moved $720,000 from government funds to a bureau de change shortly before leaving office to pay his child’s school fees.
During that investigation, the American International School of Abuja confirmed in a letter to the EFCC that a total of $845,852 had been paid as tuition fees from September 7, 2021.
The school also stated that $760,910 was refundable after deducting the cost of educational services already provided
